What do visitors to your site want?

We don’t trust survey results – people like to say all the right things.

They can also be persuaded to say all sorts of things depending on how questions are asked and the options available as answers.

After all; people always promise to vote for candidates who protect the environment and create a better future for our kids. In reality they vote for the more likeable candidate who offers the best back-pocket sweetener.

That said; this stat courtesy of HubSpot, rings true because we all hate not being able to find what we want. When developing sites we try to meet this demand with sitemaps that create lots of categories of information and lots of pages within those categories. A sitemap is the blueprint that itemises and categories all the content of your website.

Funny because it's true.

Here’s one tip – create a Publications section for all newsletters, annual reports, brochures etc. Many websites have these spread around like so much confetti.

Another tip: offer big, clear picture-based navigation on the homepage to separate key audiences such as professionals, carers, members.

Another tip: how many of you non-profiteers have exactly zero information about the price of your services? Yep – that would be most of you. Why? And do you similarly keep hush-hush about how people can register for the programs that you describe on your services section. Aha!

Your sitemap is crucial. Don't leave it to your developer.

But here’s the thing: meeting visitor desires is one part of the equation. What do you want to get from your visitors? Their subscription to your database? A donation? A signature of a virtual petition? Attendance at your event? You need to optimise your site to meet both visitor expectations and your objectives. Do you know exactly what your objectives are?

Along with ongoing Facebook advice we’ll be throwing in some webpage optimisation articles to help you meet your objectives so drop by.